January 4, 2019, by aeyskb
How I Found a Summer Internship on Twitter
By Sinead Butler, final year, BA English and Philosophy
Recruitment methods for internships and graduate jobs are evolving as technology and social media do too. You might have tried Indeed, Reed or company websites to find vacancies. You might even have used LinkedIn, a networking site that allows you to connect with companies.
But have you considered Twitter?
I’ve found it a great way to search for jobs and internships. The only challenge is the character limit, meaning the job criteria can be vague. But usually, more information can be found on their website.
Here are a few tips that I’ve tried and tested to help your search:
Follow relevant accounts
I started by following accounts in the fields I wanted to get an internship in, keeping my eye out for tweets about vacancies.
I discovered that lots of companies have a Twitter account dedicated to careers. For example, I follow @BBCCareers and @BBCGetIn to find out about their latest work experience opportunities.
Know your hashtags
I started to notice that lots of vacancy tweets included hashtags at the end. If you click on these you can see other tweets that have been shared with this tag. This was a great way to identify new opportunities and I would recommend it as a research tool.
If you are looking for a job in a particular sector, look for hashtags that relate to it. For example, I was looking for a job in the journalism sector, so I used #journojobs. You can also filter by other factors, such as the location, #nottinghamjobs or type of work, #summerinternships.
Connect with people in your industry
As a social network, Twitter is great for connecting with people. If you want to know more about a particular job or grad scheme, why not reach out to someone who is currently in that role? You could ask about what the job is like and what the company is like to work for.
If there are no vacancies advertised for the company you want to work for, reach out to them! Show that you are interested and able to take the initiative. This is how my friend managed to get a month’s internship in events for a media company.
Sell yourself
When reaching out to companies it is important that your profile is professional. If an employer sees your tweets but finds your profile unprofessional, you will be leaving a lasting impression for all the wrong reasons! You could separate personal from professional, by creating an account for each.
Turn on your notifications!
If you’re not the best at keeping up-to-date with openings, get Twitter to notify you whenever an account tweets. This way you won’t miss out as the notifications are sent straight to your phone.
Personally, I found Twitter to be a great source for vacancies. It is how I bagged my summer internship with CapX. I saw the below tweet and then emailed my CV and cover letter. By the following week, I was in Westminster being interviewed and later informed I had got the job!
Twitter is such a valuable tool for graduates when you know where to look. Your graduate job may be just one tweet away…
Starting your search for an internship? We can help. Follow our pick of the latest vacancies on My Career using the hashtag #UoNHotJobs. You can also get more help finding working experience and utilising online networking in your job search on our website.
Totally agree. Likewise, WeChat is a great channel to look for jobs and keep oneself updated with employer information in China.
I’d not thought about using Twitter before – thank you for the ideas, especially about turning on notifications when an account tweets – although I now have hundreds of notifications a day but it’s worth it for seeing the opportunities first!